It's not often you have a chance to quote such a fine poet as Paula Abdul, so when we have the chance, we'll take it: much like the song, the Yanks are one step forward, two steps back. In this case, one victory came at the cost of unnecessary tabloid annoyances, but, more importantly, news of a far more costly injury to Hughes than was expected. This season, even when they win, they lose.

It doesn't get much easier starting tomorrow, when the Yanks visit Boston. They'll face Tim Wakefield, whom they have hit well in two other games against him. Off day today for the team -- okay, mostly for A-Rod -- to figure things out.

So, remember the scene in the movie "Major League" where Roger Dorn's wife sees him on TV with another woman, then later sleeps with Rick Vaughn to get back at Dorn? At least when we read this we can recall the humor of the movie, instead of the disaster that A-Rod's about to go through in his personal life. As a side note, A-Rod just has to be flat-out lying now (right?) when he says he still wants to stay in NY after this season.

Your resident bloggers had a conversation yesterday that went something like Bill Madden's article today. That is, "Come on, A-Rod, it's not like you can just blend in with the crowd anywhere, even in Canada." More print on A-Rod from Shaun Powell in Newsday,